Syracuse Crunch

For a 30-goal scorer, Brett Connolly is essentially flying below the radar.

Overshadowed by the success of the Syracuse Crunch's top line, Connolly has quietly continued his nearly one point per game pace in the Calder Cup Playoffs. He has five points in seven postseason games, having already notched 31 goals and 32 assists in 71 games in the regular season.

With a one goal lead and the third period winding down, Matt Taormina found the puck on his stick and looked for an open shot.

After his first attempt was blocked, the Syracuse Crunch defenseman drove toward the net wristed another toward the Springfield Falcons' net. He lost track of it there.

"I shot and I didn't hear anything until the crowd reacted," Taormina said. "I finally knew it actually went in."

The goal put the exclamation point on Syracuse's 5-2 win in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals at the Onondaga County War Memorial Friday, as the Crunch swept the Falcons 4-0 to move on to the conference finals.

"They were pressing, they could feel it," Syracuse coach Rob Zettler said of Springfield. "Then Taormina steps up and scores that goal, it's huge. It put a stamp on it for us."

You would think with the PTP line held to just 1 point that Springfield would finally get a win in the series, right? Wrong. Syracuse's second and third lines carried the mail and delivered the squad to the next round.

The core of this team that was also in Norfolk for their championship run last season, AKA SyraNo, has won 17 straight playoff games. It's a ridiculous level of success that will be difficult for the league and the media to officially recognize because of the affiliation change. But, it's one of those things that really, in my opinion, gives this group the argument to say they're one of the best in league history. In fact, if they "repeat", I'd say they probably are the best multi-season collection of players in AHL history.

Syracuse's next opponent will probably be top seeded Providence, which holds a 3-1 series lead over Wilkes-Barre/Scranton after a Penguins win tonight. This is where taking care of an opponent and getting the sweep can pay dividends. Every game Wilkes-Barre/Scranton can extend that series depletes Providence's energy and possibly leads to more injuries while Syracuse can conserve theirs and stay healthy. There's the added dimension of Boston still being alive in the playoffs and injury call-ups that comes into play, too. Playoff hockey can be about attrition, and bear in mind Providence went the distance in their first round series against Hershey, too. Advantage Syracuse if Providence can't handle their business in Game Five of their series tomorrow.

It took Ondrej Palat eight seconds to change the complexion of the game, and less than eight minutes to deal the knockout blow.

The forward scored a shorthanded goal in the opening seconds of the third period to give the Syracuse Crunch a two-goal lead, then set up Tyler Johnson for another shorthanded goal at the 7:24 mark.

The two goals on the penalty kill allowed the Crunch to cruise to a 3-0 win over the Springfield Falcons in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals at the Onondaga County War Memorial Wednesday. Syracuse leads the series 3-0, and can move on with a win Friday.

"He was a difference-maker in the third period," said Crunch coach Rob Zettler of Palat. "He made an unbelievable play shorthanded to make it 2-0, and followed it up with an unbelievable pass to Johnson to make it 3-0."

Ondrej Palat, Tyler Johnson, and Desjardins were the game's three stars. Palat and Johnson are absolutely lethal as penalty killers. They were generating a couple of great chances a night in the Portland series and they haven't let up on Springfield.

Springfield has to be completely deflated with this outcome. They finally managed to get the close, low-scoring game they needed against Syracuse and they couldn't break through Desjardins. Insult to injury is their PP going -2 in the process when they have the man advantage in the Third Period which is when you want to break open a close game.

Friday, Syracuse will try to punch their ticket to the Eastern Conference Finals. For those players on the team who went through the run last year in Norfolk, SyraNo has won 16 straight playoff games going back to the series against the Connecticut Whale last year. Since then they have swept the IceCaps, Marlies, Pirates, and are 1 game away from sweeping away the Falcons. When you think how it takes 15 wins to get a Calder Cup under the current format, and the core of this group's won 16 in a row, it's pretty darn impressive.